Department of Animal Hygiene, Zoonoses, and Animal Behaviour and Management, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, 41522, Egypt.
Bacteriology Department, AHRI, Ismailia branch, Ismailia, 41511, ARC, Egypt.
Arch Microbiol. 2022 Jul 21;204(8):510. doi: 10.1007/s00203-022-03114-2.
Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) are an important cause of foodborne illness in humans with infections ranging from mild non-bloody diarrhea to bloody diarrhea (BD) and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). This study aimed to investigate the distribution of STEC in shellfish from coastal shores of Lake Timsah in Ismailia Governorate, Egypt and its probable hazard to seafood consumers. Samples from the external surface and tissues of shrimp (n = 45), crabs (n = 45), and oysters (n = 45) batches were examined bacteriologically for the presence of STEC and tested for their antibiotic sensitivity. Moreover, occurrence of virulence genes was determined via detection of stx1, stx2 and eaeA genes using PCR. Overall, E. coli and presumptive STEC isolates (from CHROMagar) were identified from the surface (55.6 and 5.9%) and tissues (42.2 and 8.9%) of the examined shellfish batches, respectively. Five STEC isolates had been confirmed and found belonging to O26:H11, O125:H6, O146:H21, and O159 serogroups, those were 4 isolates from tissues of the three shellfish species and one isolate from the crab surface. The STEC isolates were multi-drug resistant, showing complete resistance to; penicillins, amoxycillin/clavulanic acid, colistin, fosfomycin, ceftriaxone, ciprofloxacin, and tetracycline, however, they were sensitive to gentamycin except O159 serogroup. The current study revealed low level of contamination of shellfish from coastal shores of Lake Timsah with STEC, however, it also highlights the extreme level of antimicrobial resistance exhibited by the presumptive and confirmed STEC isolates which is very hazardous for seafood consumers in the study area.
产志贺毒素大肠杆菌（STEC）是人类食源性疾病的重要原因，感染范围从轻度非血性腹泻到血性腹泻（BD）和溶血尿毒综合征（HUS）。本研究旨在调查埃及伊斯梅利亚省提姆萨赫湖沿海岸贝类中 STEC 的分布及其对海鲜消费者可能造成的危害。对虾（n=45）、蟹（n=45）和牡蛎（n=45）批次的表面和组织样本进行细菌学检查，以确定 STEC 的存在，并测试其抗生素敏感性。此外，通过 PCR 检测 stx1、stx2 和 eaeA 基因来确定毒力基因的存在。总体而言，从检查的贝类批次的表面（55.6%和 5.9%）和组织（42.2%和 8.9%）中鉴定出大肠杆菌和推定 STEC 分离株（来自 CHROMagar）。从三种贝类的组织中分离出 4 株和从蟹表面分离出 1 株 STEC 分离株，证实了 5 株 STEC 分离株，属于 O26:H11、O125:H6、O146:H21 和 O159 血清群。STEC 分离株呈多药耐药性，对青霉素、氨苄西林/克拉维酸、黏菌素、磷霉素、头孢曲松、环丙沙星和四环素完全耐药，但除 O159 血清群外，对庆大霉素敏感。本研究表明，提姆萨赫湖沿海岸贝类受到 STEC 的低度污染，但也强调了推定和确认的 STEC 分离株表现出的极端水平的抗药性，这对研究区域的海鲜消费者非常危险。
